


Reverto ad Noctum

by spookyawards_archivist



Category: The X-Files
Genre: post-episode
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-10-01
Updated: 2003-10-01
Packaged: 2019-04-27 06:30:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14419599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spookyawards_archivist/pseuds/spookyawards_archivist
Summary: Revenge, love, and a job left unfinished.





	Reverto ad Noctum

**Author's Note:**

> Note from alice ttlg, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Spooky Awards](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Spooky_Awards), and was moved to the AO3 as part of the Open Doors project in 2018. I tried to reach out to all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are the creator and would like to claim this work, please contact me using the e-mail address on [SpookyAwards' collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/spookyawards/profile).

 

Reverto ad Noctum

## Reverto ad Noctum

### by Obfusc8er
    
    
    TITLE:            Reverto Ad Noctum
    WRITTEN BY:       Obfusc8er
    FEEDBACK:         
    DISTRIBUTION:     Ephemeral, Gossamer, and Mulder in Jeopardy.                                  All others welcome, but please let me know first.
    SPOILERS:         "Detour"
    RATING:           PG-13
    CLASSIFICATION:   Minor character death, MT, MA/SA, Other                                       first person POV 
    DISCLAIMER:       These characters belong to Chris Carter and                                   1013 Productions
    SUMMARY:          Revenge, love, and a job left unfinished.
    WRITER'S NOTES:   Thanks to Mary for the wonderful beta job                                     and supportive comments. This fic wouldn't have been                          posted without you. Written for the "monster" fic of the                      month challenge at Mulder's Refuge. As always, thank you to                   my fellow Refugees. It is a privilege to know                                 you all.   
    

* * *

from "Gravedigger" by Dave Matthews Band 

"Cyrus Jones 1810 to 1913  
Made his great grand children believe you could live to a hundred and three A hundred and three is forever when you're just a little kid so Cyrus Jones lived forever 

Gravedigger  
When you dig my grave  
Could you make it shallow  
So that I can feel the rain?  
Gravedigger" 

* * *

I can smell your fear. 

It's strong...surprisingly strong. The acrid stench burns inside my nose. Your kind always come here and invade every aspect of my life. You bring your earth-rending machines and flatten the forest. Then, you're not satisfied with the land, you have to hunt me down, too. You and the female came here with weapons, intending to kill me. Don't think you're the first. I'm now accustomed to the ignorant actions of man. I know how to handle you. You look at me questioningly, panic brightening your eyes. Perhaps you're one of the few who can hear me. 

Your kind are always quite surprised to learn that I am sentient. I've become more than human...more than you can imagine. One absorbs much over hundreds of years, and I have learned your language, among other things. However, my mate and I became so united over time that we ceased to require spoken words. I was amazed at first to see some of this between you and the female, but it's of no consequence now. It didn't help either of you, did it? 

I knew that neither of you were any more intelligent than the rest when you returned to my home. You didn't expect me to stop harvesting, did you? As long as humans continue to encroach upon me, I will cut them down. You, however, are a special find. You must remember watching as the female slaughtered my mate. The moment froze in my mind. I memorized both of you...your voices, your natural scents. I even committed the bitter, tangy taste of your warm blood to memory. 

The smell of your fresh wounds excites me, stirs a hunger inside. I'm anxious to tear into your trembling flesh, but the time is not quite right. Once I would have felt ashamed, no...horrified, at this feeling, but now it is a necessity. Some would even call me a cannibal, but I have ascended. My judgment is fair, and my wrath is just, far more than you can say for yourself. I have overestimated your resilience, though. The immobilizing wounds to your legs were too deep. I resent the fact that your life is spilling out so quickly, pooling on the dirt. I want every last drop. You owe me that much, and more. 

The pain distorts your pale face. I can almost feel your hot rush of agony. Exhilarating. You've been silent, though, bearing your wounds quite bravely. That will not do. The female is nearby, but how is she going to find you if there are no screams to guide her? Aha. That got a reaction, although it's not the one I need. Don't bother trying to attack me. You knew I was going to use you to lure her here. Your resistance will break, and her blood will sanctify your broken body before I send you to meet her on the other side. 

There is some life in you, yet! Good. Perhaps you will live long enough to be useful, after all. The hatred in your eyes is pathetic. You have no idea what you've taken from me, do you? I once had one who completed me, as you have...one who gave my existence meaning. You wretched demon... Now you are just starting to know a hint of the anguish I've suffered at your expense. Still, you emit only a low growl. Here, I will help you call out to your beloved. What shall it be? Your arm? Your face? Shall I claim her trophy for my own? 

I can feel your stomach trembling under my hand. Your fists are ineffective. I can stop them with a single blow to your head. There...not so hard that you lose consciousness, but enough to make you lie still. A fresh cut has opened up over your glazed eye. I can't let that go to waste. The saltiness of your sweat tinges the thick, red fluid. I'm ready for you to wake up. A couple of smacks should suffice. It must be very uncomfortable to have your arms pinned beneath you that way. Your whimpers are pleasing, but she will not hear them. Try harder. I can burrow into you as easily as I travel through the ground. I must wait, though. I don't have the opportunity to use live bait very often, so this must work the first time. 

I wave my hand across your abdomen, leaving four red trails to line your ribcage. One is fairly deep, deep enough to pull you out of silence. Unfortunately, this can't continue. I don't want you to lose too much blood before I even have the female spotted. What's that? I think I hear her footsteps finally approaching. Her weapon clicks. Wait... Can't have you warning her, can I? Your head jerks back easily. I'm not sure how you manage to look so surprised with your eyes rolled up to the whites like that. 

Just enough time to blend into the tall clump of weeds before...ah, there she is. She looks very serious; she has the demeanor of a predator. You should be proud of her, really. She's being very thorough, very cautious about examining the area around your limp body. She isn't making this easy, but she'll make a mistake eventually. I have ample time to wait, and you don't. 

Her voice is soft as she speaks to you, almost hauntingly familiar. The way she touches you gently makes me ache for my lost one. Your shivering makes her agitated. I can smell it, sense it. She puts her weapon away and presses her hands against the deepest gash in your leg, bathing them in your blood. It makes my mouth water. I can't help myself any longer, and emerge from the weeds still striped with their image. A small twig snaps beneath my foot, and she spins immediately, producing and holding up her weapon. 

She aims to my right. Her grip looks unsteady as she slowly turns with the slippery, wet weapon in her hands. The fierce determination in her eyes makes me hesitate. I almost expect them to glow. You have chosen well, but the time has come for you to give back what you have taken. I rush her, and she falls down easily. She looks at me with a deep hatred. Wait... She _looks_ at me! She shouldn't be able to see me at all... 

I prepare to kill her swiftly, with one blow, but she lifts her weapon and I see a flash... 

A great force shoves me backwards, and I feel a tremendous pressure in my chest. I stumble into the weeds, but I'm no longer able to camouflage myself. Something is wrong. She's coming after me, and I have nowhere to hide. You. You are my last chance. I hurl myself toward your sweaty, shaking body. I cradle your head with my left arm as my breath begins to gurgle and burn like fire. Blood runs freely from a hole in my chest and mingles with your own. This wasn't supposed to happen...it's supposed to be _her_ blood. I drag your heavy, limp mass in front of mine for shielding. She's pointing her weapon at us, now, screaming. 

I know she loves you. That will keep me safe from her anger. She steps closer, and I turn your head, stretching your neck to the breaking point. Funny...a tiny little grunt is all you manage. She takes the hint and backs off, but she's still pointing the weapon at me. She impresses me more and more...and I'm forced to wonder why she's attracted to you. But no matter. It will all be over soon. 

I try to draw us both into the ground, but I've grown too weak. The soil will no longer move for me. You jerk as you suddenly return to awareness. It startles me for a moment. Your hands slowly reach up to tug weakly on my arm. How valiant. Futile, but valiant. Pain explodes around me as your elbow digs into my wound. I can barely focus enough to keep you in front of me while I tilt over toward the ground. You'll regret that. I reach around with my right fist and catch you squarely in the jaw. A wet, snapping sound accompanies your beautiful cry. The sound bounces off of the surrounding trees and returns to us several times over. 

It seems that my plans must change. I can feel my life draining away quickly now, and the female is no longer attainable prey. You'll have to do. I don't want to kill you yet. Only fresh meat is acceptable. It's difficult to stand up while holding your dead weight, but I have no other choice. I back away from her slowly as your sounds of distress grow louder and louder. Her cold stare bores through me, and she starts to follow us. I stop and hook a finger in the corner of one of the gashes on your outer thigh. I can feel your lungs pumping frantically as I slowly pull the wound wider. Your entire body tenses for a moment. Another scream...this one lower and weaker than the last. The female's face loses all color. She looks quite ill, truthfully. 

I think she's finally taken the hint to back off. Of course, she will follow us later. We're leaving a wide, red trail anyone could follow, even a mere human. I have only one option left. Nearby, in a small clearing among the most ancient trees, is a sacred place that has regenerative powers. Water gushes forth from a cleft in a rock and pools around it. It isn't far from here, but I'll never make it dragging you backwards. It will be easier to carry you as any large prey. I kneel down and hunch over, pulling your right arm over my left shoulder and wrapping my right arm around your right leg. The weight distribution is a bit awkward, but it will have to suffice. I stand on shaky legs, knowing that my strength only needs to last long enough to get to the fountain. It's difficult to hold onto your slippery arm, but I still seem to be making progress. The forest around us grows increasingly quiet as we go in farther. Something unusual has disturbed the animals. 

I don't give it a second thought. All that matters is reaching that fountain, where I and my mate baptized ourselves in life eternal, or nearly so... I should have known that humans would find some way to corrupt even that. Tears sting my eyes as I reflect on our long lives together. Why did _you_ have to come along? What is it about you and the female that gave you the ability, or even the right, to decide that we could not defend our home from human encroachment? At least when you die, the female will not be cursed to live another thousand years or more alone, aching and longing for what used to be. Her suffering will be graciously short-lived. I bear it only because I know that my mate would want revenge on humans to balance the teetering scales of life. I am duty bound, and I give every day that I suffer without my mate as some small payment for the love I received. I don't really expect you to understand, human. How could you? How could anyone? 

Ahead is the dense wall of arboreal sentries that stand on three sides of the fountain. I feel my legs shake again as we draw closer, but it isn't due to weakness. The ground is moving. My senses are piqued. I stop and sniff at the air. It's hard to discern anything over the pungent odor of your sweat and blood, but there is something else. It smells like smoke. No, not regular smoke, but the kind that chokes me whenever I approach one of the hideous gray wounds you humans have cut through the forest. Humans! In the sacred place! I begin to run toward the end of the wall of trees, my body temporarily fueled by panic. My heart sinks as I round the corner. 

One lumbering, metal beast belches smoke as it leaves, but many, many more hulks litter the ground, motionless and menacing. Most of the ancient trees are gone now, trees that were unimaginably old when _I_ came here. I still see one, lying on the ground like a piece of unwanted debris. A knot settles deep in my stomach as I walk around one of the large, yellow beasts. There, where eternal life once sprang from a rock, is a field of mud with odd tracks criss crossing it. A few sticks with bright orange flags mark the place where my only hope once was, where my true life _really_ began. I fall to my knees, letting your body slip onto the ground behind me, forgotten for the moment. It's so overwhelming, I don't know what to think or do. The pain, the pressure in my chest seems to grow immeasurably. I rise slowly to my feet and walk through the mud to the sacred spot. This feels like a dream, and I allow hot tears to fall, knowing that I'll never wake up from this one. 

I kneel gingerly where the rocks once were. I press my hands into the mud, hoping to feel even a hint of the power that was here. There is nothing left, as I expected. I sob as my heart rips in half. The tears and blood mingle with tiny puddles in the mud, remnants of a promise not kept. When I stand up again, I feel hollow, with only one thought in my mind...You must die. Someone must atone for this. I turn around to find you trying to crawl away. I almost laugh. Crawl away to _where_? Your trail in the mud is not very long. It betrays your weakness. 

So, how shall I kill you? I'll have to make this quick. My own body has become difficult to control, and my mind grows increasingly foggy. There, detached from one of the monsters, sits a large shovel-like digging tool. It's weight is equivalent to a small boulder. That should do nicely. I grunt as I lift the heavy object before me. I trudge unsteadily towards you. The intense awe in your eyes amuses me. I stop only two steps away, and garner the rest of my strength to heft the object over my head. Finally, in some small way, I can make my life complete. I quickly focus on that hairy, bloody head of yours. I don't want to miss. I start to throw the object down, but something hurls me backwards. That white-hot pain has returned, and I find myself lying on my back in the mud. The digging tool falls to my right, splattering more mud on us both. 

I can hear my breath rattle and gurgle through the wounds in my chest. The metal beasts and the few remaining trees seem to encircle me with a macabre, spinning dance. The pain and pressure only seem to grow, and I can hear my heartbeat in my ears. I have to admit that I'm frightened. Are you frightened, human? Do you feel your life ebbing away as I do? Clarity returns for an instance as I become aware of the female's presence. She's standing over me now, watching me die without pity. She puts her weapon away and hurries to your side. I can see the concern on her face as she begins tending to your wounds. If you only knew how good you have it, how much I envy you... 

Ah. My time has come. Strength is slipping away quickly now. I stare up at the blue sky, searching for signs of my mate in the ever-changing formations. Darkness creeps into the edges of my vision, and I feel my heart slow down. I blink once, and when I open my eyes, I see the familiar face hovering above me, rendered in pure white. My heart flutters, then stops. The blue of the sky gives way to black. I hear my last breath leak out of my lungs, and the white form dissolves to nothing. 

* * *

The End 

Thanks for reading.   
  


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